A Princess of My Own
by Firefaerie
Summary: Just Michael's POV on the last few days leading up to the Winter Carnival. M/M, review please!


Just a quick, short, one-shot fic I thought of when I was lounging around the house, playing Paper Mario.  
  
Summary: How exactly did Michael find out it was Mia sending him the cards? The book gives a quick little explanation, "Lilly told me". But I think it went a little differently.  
  
Pairing: M/M Rating: PG, I guess (for a few swears)  
  
Disclaimer: The wonderful, *wonderful* Meg Cabot owns the Princess Diaries book series and any direct quotes from the text. Disney owns the crappy movie version. I only own this idea and problems strikingly similar to Mia's guy problems (Going out with one guy I see as a friend, want to date another guy, too chicken sh!t to break up with first guy) so don't sue me. Unless you want to take my problems away... I'd like that.  
  
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Michael's POV:  
  
Wednesday, December 10th, G&T.  
  
Funny thing happened today. I opened my locker, in the pretense of pulling out some of my old Algebra notes for Mia, when a little card fell out. Figuring it was something from Judith (despite my best attempts to brush her off, she won't take a hint. Gr...) I opened it up. It was a little white card with a black and white picture of a Chocolate Covered Strawberry on the front. Inside, in handwriting I didn't recognize, was a poem, which I will inscribe here for future generations who decide to read my journal.  
  
Roses are red,  
  
Violets are blue,  
  
You may not know it,  
  
But someone loves you  
  
Wow. I'm still guessing it's Judith, even though she's got a boyfriend. No signature either... so I guess I've got a secret admirer. I wonder who... I wish it was Mia, but I know she's going out with Kenny right now. I have tried to let her know from time to time how I feel, but either  
  
She doesn't return my feelings and wants me to stop bothering her, or  
  
She is completely clueless.  
  
I myself would prefer to believe the latter, because there are occasions where I've "accidentally" let our knees bump, or I reach over and take her hand to correct her writing, and she doesn't pull away. I'm not saying she completely leans in on me, but the fact that she's not pulling away is a small comfort. I'm probably reading in on this more than I should. Well, it's time for me to tutor Mia, so I'll write more later.  
  
Thursday, December 11th, Café Rio.  
  
H-O-L-Y C-R-U-D. Okay, I got another card this morning (black and white photo of a woman holding a finger to her lips and going "shhh") and on the inside it said  
  
Roses are red,  
  
But Cherries are redder,  
  
Maybe she can clone fruit flies  
  
But I like you better  
  
Well, that rules out Judith... I'm pretty sure she's the only fruit-fly- cloning-girl I know. Still hoping it's Mia, still pretty sure my hopes are going to be crushed. She's so... sweet and funny and smart, even though she thinks she's not. And she smells so nice! Arg... I really wish I could get her out of my head! It's not that I don't enjoy her presence, but I'd much rather have the real thing. Be back in a second, Joseph (friend of mine who works at Café Rio, also a senior) is coming over and I'd rather not make him privy to the fact that I'm dreaming of kissing my little sister's best friend... that and I'm writing a journal about it.  
  
Same day, My room, Later  
  
Dammit. Dammit. Dammit. Joseph's class lets out right next to my locker, and he saw Tina Hakim Baba put the card in my locker this morning, between first and second period. Dammit. It wasn't Mia sending me the cards. It was Tina. Not that Tina's bad or anything, I just like Mia. A lot. As in I can't even think about other girls... except Buffy. But Buffy doesn't count. Okay, good, I'll tell her that tomorrow. "Tina, it's not that I don't like you as a friend, but I like someone else." Good. That doesn't sound harsh, but it's firm... dammit once more. Okay, gotta go, the Computer Club has a meeting that I need to go to.  
  
Friday Afternoon, G&T  
  
Holy Crud. I know all the blood in my body is in my face right now. I just know it. But in spite of that, I am supremely, sublimely happy. Here's what happened. I went to tell Tina what I had worked out last night. I caught her in the lunchroom, and I asked to see her outside. I said, "Tina, I know." "Know what?" she asked, looking at me like I'd lost my mind. "I know that you sent the cards to me, and while it's not that I don't see you as a friend, but..." "Me? But... but I didn't send those cards." Tina said, eyebrows raised. "I only wrote them... they're Mia's..." then she looked completely furious with herself. "Dammit! I wasn't supposed to tell you that! Okay, look, if you tell her that I told you Michael, I will *kill* you, got it?" I didn't really hear that last part... there was an odd roaring in my ears. I heard the phrase, "They're Mia's..." being repeated over and over in my head. I gave her a vague "Yeah, sure, whatever you say Tina..." and sort of wandered off, until I ended up into the G&T room, about twenty minutes before class. But that doesn't matter, cause MIA LIKES ME! I would just tell her that I like her I like her too... no... wait! I've got a better idea! The Winter Carnival! I can make a special computer program for her... this is perfect! Okay, well, now I actually have to work on something, so I'm probably not going to write in this journal for a while... until I write again.  
MIA LIKES ME! MIA LIKES ME! MIA LIKES ME!  
Friday, December 19th, Winter Carnival  
  
Arg... I screwed up again. I had worked on the program day and night for the last week, and set it perfectly up on the computer. And I got Mia to come over, and I sat her at the right computer, and turned on the computer. I waited impatiently for the banner to stop waving and display the little poem I wrote.  
  
(Roses are red, Violets are blue, You may not know it, But I love you, too)  
  
And so as soon as Mia read it, she screamed and jumped out of her chair, knocking it completely over. Before I could say anything, she grabbed Tina and starting heading for the girl's room. I yelled for her, but either she wasn't listening or she didn't want to hear it... arg! How could I have been so dumb!? Maybe the entire thing was just a cover story for Tina so she wouldn't have to admit that she liked me to my face! Dammit! And so, before Mia got to the girl's room, Kenny grabbed her. She tried to shrug him off, but he held on. They talked for a few minutes, and she started crying. Dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit! I closed the program and attempted to run after her, but I was stopped by Lilly, who had grabbed my arm and yanked me off to one side, really hard.  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO?!" She shrieked at me, looking like she was two seconds away from slapping me silly.  
  
"Nothing!" I yelled, still trying to get to Mia.  
  
"'Nothing' doesn't make my best friend go running to the bathroom in tears!" she yelled, shaking me.  
  
"I was attempting to confess the fact that I loved her! But apparently, if the tears are any indication, the feeling is not mutual." I hissed, pulling myself from her grip and running down the stairs and out the door. Anything to get away from this stupid school. I am never coming back. Screw coming to the dance. I'm going to my room.  
  
Saturday, December 20th, New York Airport  
  
I'm still in shock about what happened last night. I had tried to call Mia about a dozen times, but there was no response from her every single time. I gave up on the fourth try, when her mom started getting really irritated with me. Knowing from experience when my mom was pregnant with Lilly that you should never trifle with an angry pregnant woman, I gave up. And I definitely had no desire to go to the dance, so I stayed in my room. I was listening to my "Depressing Mix" CD and being generally mope-y and refusing to come out for my parents, who (of course) wanted to psychoanalyze why I was so depressed, when the phone rang. I automatically picked it up.  
  
"Moscovitz Residence." I said in a dead tone.  
  
"Michael?" it was Lilly. I seriously considered hanging up right then. I didn't need to hear her bitch me out about whatever it was I did.  
  
"What?" I said, probably a little sharper than I should've.  
  
"Good, you haven't hung yourself with the shower curtain yet. Get your ass down here, NOW."  
  
"Why should I?" I asked sullenly.  
  
"Because Mia is here, and if you hurry, you might actually fix what you screwed up earlier tonight."  
  
"How? I'm sure that the little stunt I pulled did not endear her to me. And she's dating Kenny right now."  
  
"She liked you, you moron. She still likes you. And she and Kenny broke up." Could I believe my ears? Maybe the connection was bad. "Now get your ass down here now, before I come up there and drag you by your hair. If you're not here in ten minutes I'm pushing your computer out the window and burning all of your Buffy tapes." I hurriedly threw on my tuxedo and shoes, not even making an attempt to tie the stupid bow tie. I dashed out the door as fast as I could, taking the stairs five at a time and out into the slushy street. I ran to the school, where there were a few people getting out of cars, but mostly everyone had already arrived. I jumped through the door, fully aware of my snowy hair and untied bow tie. But I didn't care. Mia was there. She looked so... beautiful in this long elegant green dress that for a second I thought it was a dream. I attempted to remain calm.  
  
"I didn't think you were coming."  
  
"I almost didn't." she said softly, blushing bright red. Did I mention she's adorable when she's blushing?  
  
"I called you a bunch of times... only you wouldn't come to the phone."  
  
"I know." She was staring at the floor.  
  
"Mia," I said, taking a step closer to her. "With that thing today. I didn't mean to make you cry." Please forgive me. Please, PLEASE forgive me!  
  
"It didn't. I mean, it wasn't that. It was something Kenny said."  
  
"Yeah, well, I heard you two broke up." Oh, that was smooth. Remind the girl of the angst-y breakup with her boyfriend when you're trying to confess your undying love!  
  
"The thing is," I began, trying to keep calm, "I knew it was you. Who was leaving those cards." Arg... that was the wrong thing to say... she looked like I just ripped her heart out. "You... you did?" I was getting a little impatient. "Of course I did. Tina told me." She looked up at me for the first time during the whole conversation (she has amazing eyes, by the way), then looked at Tina and Lilly, who suddenly looked very interested in what their dates had to say. "I am going to kill them." She murmured.  
  
"Mia, it doesn't *matter*!" I said, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her. "What matters is I meant what I wrote, and I thought you did, too." She looked at me disbelievingly.  
  
"Of course I meant it." At this point I was thinking 'wait... what?'  
  
"Then why did you freak out like that today at the Carnival?" I asked. "Well, because... because... I thought..." she stammered, then finished in a rush, "I thought you were making fun of me."  
  
"Never." I said. And then I did something really crazy: I leaned down and kissed her on the lips. It seemed like we'd be kissing forever (which is fine by me, because Mia is a really good kisser) when I heard someone clearing their throat. Mia and I broke apart, a little guiltily, to face Lars, Tina, Lilly, and Lilly and Tina's dates. Mia looked up at me and raised her eyebrows, giving them all a cheeky grin.  
  
"Do you mind?" she asked, hands on her hips. "We're sort of in the middle of something." And Mia grabbed me by my untied bow tie and kissed me. Which is pretty much what we spent the rest of the night doing: Kissing. Oh, and we danced a little too. Then, around 11:30, Lilly came over and said that if we didn't leave now we never would because it was snowing so hard, so I walked Mia (and Lars) up the stairs to the loft, and she kissed me goodnight, with Lars beside us, grumbling about how cold he was. And I went home very, *very* happy. When I got back in the car, Lilly smugly said, "I *told* you she liked you. And may I point out I knew you liked her too."  
  
"How long have you known?" I asked.  
  
"Since the beginning." She said airily, waving a hand. "I wanted to know how long it took you two to figure it out on your own." So right now I'm at the New York Airport, watching Mia's plane take off. I left her with a goodbye kiss, something I think both her father and grandmother didn't approve of. But I didn't care. And I don't even really mind she's going to Genovia. I can always visit. The Royal family of Genovia even has their own Airline. So I guess everything did work out in the end.  
And I'm done. Yay me. Review! 


End file.
